


Vanimelda

by Milieva



Series: Of Barcelona and Beyond [1]
Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: F/M, Originally Posted on LiveJournal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-11-10
Updated: 2007-11-10
Packaged: 2021-03-09 21:02:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 719
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27642511
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Milieva/pseuds/Milieva
Summary: The Doctor pays his respects at the grave of an old friend.
Relationships: Tenth Doctor/Rose Tyler
Series: Of Barcelona and Beyond [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2021198
Kudos: 2





	Vanimelda

**Author's Note:**

> Vanimelda: n. absent friend (Quenya)

This wasn’t the first time he’d been here. In fact, he had lost count of how many times he has returned to this exact spot. The once glossy stone was worn and matted with age, but the engravings still read clearly where they are not overgrown with tangled vines. 300 years into her future and the memorial still stands.

Crouching low, and pushing away the invasion of leaves, he ran his fingers over the stark lettering.

_Rose Marion Tyler_

It hurt to remember that day. Tore open the wound that would never heal. His soul bled with the grief of losing her, and the not knowing that came with it.

Straightening back up, he turned his face skyward and let the cold wetness run down his face, it masked the tears he shed.

So many times he had come here, only to wonder what she was doing, if she was happy, if she thought of him.

So many times he stood here, telling the stone face what he wished so badly to have told the woman who had saved his life in so many ways.

_“I love you.”_

It wouldn’t matter how many times he stood here, how many times he traced her name, or how many ways he wished things could have been different. None of that could possibly change what had happened.

Too many times he stood here feeling like he'd lost everything he ever loved.

How many more times would he let himself come here and re-open that wound which was trying so desperately to heal? How many times would he let the memories of such an uncommon, common woman tear him apart?

This was a place of despair, of remembrance, of love lost. Merely setting foot on this soil was a knife through the heart. 

But come here he did.

Painful as it was, he wanted to remember. And somehow this stone was the only connection he could find. The only attempt at closure he could manage. But that was so much more difficult when she wasn’t dead. Sometimes, he had thought it would simply be easier if he could just forget her, but 300 years in her future, there would be no one left to remember her.

Remember the way she spoke, the way she laughed, the way she walked, the way she looked at him those last few minutes he spoke to her on that beach...

And the way it hurt when he realized she lied.

A small familiar hand slipped into his, and the spell was broken. His daughter smiled reassuringly up at him. 

Shoulders lifting with the loss of his grief, the Doctor smiled brightly back down at her. He wasn’t alone now. And though it hurt to remember how horribly quiet it had been those first few weeks without Rose, she was once again waiting for him when he walked through that door. It wouldn't forever, but she would be there as long as she could, and the little shadow she would leave in her wake would be with him much longer.

Lovingly squeezed her hand, the Doctor asked, “Where to next?”

“Back to the TARDIS.” Came a firm reply.

“But there are so many fun places to go,” he whined.

His companion gave him a stern look that only a Tyler could give. 

“It can be our little secret.” He begged.

She only glowered at him longer.

“What about buying your mother a gift?” He tried.

Still glaring, she raised an eyebrow.

“…as an apology for you being kidnapped on Chizeta…” He pleaded.

Expression easing, she thought about it. Adventure was in her blood, but her mother’s wrath was deadly. “If we get back before Mummy gets up.”

The little girl dropped his hand and ran back toward the ship. She had to stand on her toes to reach the lock, but she opened the door before the Doctor caught up with her. As soon as the door opened, she slipped and fell forward onto the grating. Clambering back to her feet, she hurled herself into the jump seat and waited to see where her father’s wild piloting would take them. 

Cheerfully setting the coordinates, the Doctor beamed at his small companion. 

It would definitely be a while before he was alone again.

Even if forever wasn’t long enough.


End file.
